


his sleeves (my favorite shirt)

by AmbiguousPenny



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Alice Quinn & Eliot Waugh Friendship, Angst, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Quentin’s Shirt, S4 & S5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:14:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27020302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmbiguousPenny/pseuds/AmbiguousPenny
Summary: Alice is mourning, and Eliot is too.Or, an alternative to 5x03
Relationships: Alice Quinn & Eliot Waugh, Quentin Coldwater/Alice Quinn, Quentin Coldwater/Eliot Waugh
Comments: 7
Kudos: 42





	his sleeves (my favorite shirt)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi this is a fix it of sorts. I wrote this before season 5 aired but there was some promo of Alice wearing Quentin’s clothes. I always felt like Alice and Eliot would come together over losing Quentin. This has a hopeful ending and I don’t know that I will continue on with it in anyway but just know that it leads to some Alice and Eliot saving the day and bringing back the boy.

Eliot watched as Alice fluttered about the room, gathering trash and folding blankets. The weight that lingered in his chest lurched when he’d recognized the shirt she was wearing as Quentin’s. 

“Sorry I didn’t come sooner.” He keeps his voice soft and Alice continues to tidy, humming about in a sort of frantic buzz making futile attempts to declutter the space in which she has clearly been mourning. They’d all been mourning, in their own ways. “Alice, it’s okay, you don’t have to clean up just for me it’s okay.” She stops and sets down a half empty glass of water where it had been at the edge of the coffee table. She fiddles with the sleeves of Quentin’s shirt—they are too long on her. 

“That was my favorite one.” Eliot says, swallowing. 

“Mine too.” The silence is heavy.

“What have you been up to?” It’s an empty question, and Eliot almost feels guilty for it. 

“I’ve been working—searching.” 

“Searching for what Alice?” He knows what she’s searching for. It’s almost cruel to pretend like he wasn’t searching too, like he hadn’t hoped when he knocked on her door that she’d already have the answer. 

“There has to be a way. There has to be a way to bring him back.” 

Eliot let out a deep breath, exhaling into the coldness of Alice’s apartment. He wanted her to be right. He wanted her to be right  _ so badly, _ but he knew she wasn’t, that she couldn’t be. Alice doesn’t say anything more, only continues to tug at the cuffs of the sleeves and pick at the buttons with her thumbnail. 

“Alice,” 

“He did it for me.” She said finally looking up at him, her eyes a wet mix of pleading and determination. 

“You were a Niffin, Alice. He’s gone.” Alice stills and she her eyes turn wild and then after a beat they sadden and Eliot watches as her sharp features begin to crumble as she looks away. What is left of his heart breaks for her. 

“Nobody understands how this feels, without him I— I can’t not try, I—I watched him die Eliot, I stood there and I watched him die.” 

Eliot hated himself. He hated the way her words made him feel. A slithering jealousy sparked at the mere thought of who had been there to watch Quentin as he dissolved into nothing but light and fire and magic. It was a disgusting thought that picked at the edge of his brain, one that reminded him whose fault all of this really was. He hadn’t been there to watch Quentin die but he had been the reason it happened in the first place. It wasn’t a contest. It wasn’t fair. 

“Alice, this will only make things harder, you have to stop.” 

“You don’t understand. You don’t know—“ 

“I do. I do know. I know.” Alice looked at Eliot and it felt like she was trying to dissect him, peel back the layers he kept himself protected with. “I know.” His voice was just a whisper, emotion cracking through and betraying him. 

“Tell me.” Alice whispered. Eliot could tell she already knew. 

“I want him back Alice. Just as much as you do, maybe even more.” He’s surprised when she doesn’t flinch, or squint her eyes at him. “I loved him too.” 

Eliot watches cautiously as Alice crosses the room, pulling open a drawer and pulling out a folded shirt. In silence she pulls off the one she is wearing and replaces it. When she’s finished she casts a simple spell using an easy combination of tuts, the shirt she’d been wearing lifts gently into the air with a shimmering twinkle of light, cleaning itself before folding neatly into Alice’s open palms. With Quentin’s shirt in her hands like a folded flag she turns back to Eliot. 

“I don’t know if it helps, or if it just makes it worse, but I enchanted them. They’ll always smell like he did.” 

Eliot took the shirt from Alice. It was soft, and warm against his hands and without any hesitation he lifted it to his face, burying his nose into the cotton. He inhaled deeply. It really did smell exactly like Quentin. 

“Your research.” He says finally. 

“What?” 

“What have you found so far?” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks you for reading <3
> 
> Sorry for the angst lol.


End file.
